When a policy proposed by one party or other is buried by the public opinion polls, we are likely to be told that it is ‘dead as a doornail.’
So, why do we say that anything that is done with is definitely ‘dead as a doornail’?
What’s so special about doornails?
Let’s do some digging.
For a start, this is a very old expression—it seems to go back to about 1350.
As for the ‘doornail’ word—the most likely reason it’s there is for the alliteration.
Alliteration?
So soon you forget!
It was only 50 years when Mr Bartlett explained to you in class 1C that the word ‘alliteration’ means the repetition of initial sounds.
And in ‘dead as a doornail’ the repetition of the D sound makes it a stronger, more memorable phrase than just ‘dead as a nail.’
But there is another possible reason for the choice of ‘doornail.’
It comes from an era in which doors to the outside world were stout, strong timber fixtures, held together by very large, strong iron nails.
Even if your front door these days doesn’t look exactly like that, you’ve seen pictures of these ancient doors, so you know what I mean.
And when nails are hammered into timber until they intrude out the other side, and the intruding bit is hammered over (hammered flat, in what carpenters call ‘clinching’ the nail) they are ‘dead’ in the sense that they can never be prised out and re-used.
Hence, they are ‘dead doornails’.
And this too may have contributed to the expression.
And we should raise a glass to this phrase since more 650 years since it was born, it is still going stron
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BY THE WAY...
If you'd like to see my A-Z list of Aussie slang, you'll find it here in the Australian Geographic website -- A-Z list of Aussie slang. Here’s the link: The A-Z of Aussie slang - Australian Geographic
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